Niche Overlap and Temporal Activity Patterns of Social Wasps (Hymenoptera: Vespidae) in a Brazilian Cashew Orchard

摘要

The use of cashew fruits as a glucidic resource by wasps was quantified in an orchard to evaluate temporal overlap for a species-rich guild of social wasps and to determine if temporal partitioning within this guild reduces competition for food resources and facilitates species coexistence. Wasp activity was measured from 06:00 AM to 06:00 PM in a cashew orchard in Northeastern Brazil. A null model approach was used to evaluate temporal overlap for the entire guild of social wasps. Social wasp foraging time was bimodal and concentrated from 09:00 to 12:00 h and from 14:00 to 16:00 h. Overlap of temporal activity distributions between pairs of wasp species ranged from 0.58 to 0.83 (index of Schoener). Through analyses of temporal overlap for the entire guild, niche overlap among all species was greater than expected by chance. Social wasps show relatively high overlap in temporal activity patterns for all pairs of species (always over 50 percent) and in the analysis of the entire guild, average niche overlap among all pairs of species was greater than expected by the null model (n = 10,000 simulations). This indicated that interspecific interactions did not structure this wasp guild, and that responses to daily fluctuations in abiotic variables (e.g. temperature, humidity) likely structure activity patterns of these social wasps.